"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, hut have everlasting life."—John 3:16.

The text tonight is called the "golden text" of the Bible, and it IS. Perhaps it is the most familiar of all texts, even more familiar than the shortest verse in the Bible. In Vacation Bible Schools the first verse ‘that children are taught is John 3:16, and the reason: so many things are suggested therein.

A man once spoke to his pastor saying, "Brother Pastor, I wish that you would cease and desist from preaching the doctrine."

The preacher, a rather elderly man, said to this member of the church: "If you will give me a text, I shall be only too happy to preach it."

"Well" said the member, "I can give you many texts that aren’t doctrinal, but I will give you the most familiar one of them all. If you can preach a doctrinal message out of it, then I’ll never say another word about doctrinal preaching."

So he gave him John 3:16.

This same pastor said to me, "You know, I began to study John 3:16. I had quoted it many times, but really, truly, I had not ever studied the passage. So I began; day after day, night after night I studied John 3:16. When I had exhausted not that which John 3:16 taught, but myself, I came to this conclusion:

John 3:16 is the most doctrinal passage in the Word of God."

And it is. So tonight we are talking on the subject "The Greatest Love Story Ever Told,"

From the human standpoint, the most fascinating love story is the love story of Jacob and his wife—the wife that he loved.

To me, it is the most fascinating love story, evaluated by human standards; but John 3:16 is the greatest love story that man can read. It is dealing NOT with human emotions, or the relationship of men and women to each other, but it is dealing with the love which God has manifested toward a lost, sick, dying world.

There are five things suggested in this marvelous text—no doubt someone more familiar with this passage than I could find much more suggested—but five things to which I would direct your attention this evening:

1. The AUTHOR of such LOVE—"For COD so loved. . ."

2. The OBJECTS of His love—"For God so loved the WORLD. . ."

3. The MANIFESTATION of such love—"That he GAVE his only begotten SON . . ."

4. The RECIPIENTS of His love—"That whosoever BELIEVETH. . ."

5. The SECURITY of such love—"should never PERISH but have everlasting LIFE."

Those are the five things I would discuss with you this evening.

First, let us examine the opening phrase of this remarkable passage: Jesus, talking to Nicodemus, said, "For God so loved. . ." So, it is GOD who loved. There is no way whereby one can understand or define God’s love. His love surpasses and far excels any and all other loves. The nearest love to God’s love is a mother’s love for her child. For example: in the Old Testament, as God admonished backsliding Israel to return, He points out His love TO them, His care FOR them and His concern ABOUT them, saying, "As a mother comforts her child, even so shall I comfort you.

But I would not, for anything in the world, attempt to define God’s love, because that would be utterly impossible to do. But notice Jesus said, "For God SO loved. . ." He is the AUTHOR of this love.

From a doctrinal standpoint, the text declares the EXISTENCE of God: "For God . . ." The man who denies and is skeptical about the existence of God is not a smart man; although he may be acclaimed as an intellect. He might be acclaimed an intellectual man and at the same time, if he denies the existence of God, the Book says that he is a FOOL.

Then I would raise the question this evening: why is it that some men DENY God? The communists deny the existence of God—WHY? Why is it that men say, "There is no God?"

I believe the Bible answers that question. In Psalm 14:1 David said, "The FOOL bath said in his heart there is no God." They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good."

David said that it is the FOOL who hath said, "There is no God." And he tells you WHY men say such things: he is a FOOL. He is not an intellectual man, but a fool, the rankest kind of fool. Now it doesn’t mean, however, that he is mentally unbalanced; it means that he is one that is ordering his LIFE as if there were no God. Psalm 19:1-3, a familiar passage, David said, "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard."

In short, they who say "there is no God" have no excuse. There is no EXCUSE for men to say there is no God when even the Heavens and earth shew His handiwork.

People are saying on every hand, "We want something that is tangible."

Well, that is what the natives, where the missionaries have never gone, have to say. So they build them a god with their own hands and bow down to it; but they are no worse than the man, who lives in an enlightened land, who declares there isn’t a God. Then nature itself—that is what David actually had in mind in Psalm 19—the voice of nature declares the glory of God. There isn’t any place in the world where nature hasn’t been manifested; where the Divine hand of Cod has not been seen, or its effect. So that man is without excuse. He just THINKS he is an intellect.

The Apostle Paul, talking about the Gentile nations in Romans 1:19-22, said that he had a number of things against them, and here is one thing that he says—I want you to get it—"Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God bath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without EXCUSE: because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; hut became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became FOOLS."

So Paul said, "There is no EXCUSE for man to say, ‘There is no God.’ For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly SEEN, being understood by the things that are MADE, even unto His eternal power and Godhead." So, they are without excuse before God. Now, THIS is the AUTHOR of such love. He EXISTS, and NOT just in the imaginations of men, but He really, truly, actually exists: God LIVES. He isn’t dead.

Someone said one time, "Why is it that God permits EVIL to triumph? Why does God permit WARS? Why does God permit ILLNESS, so many diseases, so much suffering throughout the world—why?"

I could give you two reasons; one perhaps you would accept, and the other perhaps you would reject. But I give them to you anyway. The reasons are simply these: first, for the child of God, God is working out everything for the GOOD of that child of God. It might be illness, adverse circumstances and conditions; it might, be financial adverse or the loss of one’s health, but if he is a child of Cod, God works it out for his own good, and for HIS glory. Secondly, somehow, some way, God is going to divert, convert evil to His everlasting good and glory. He overturns evil works for Himself and for His own GLORY: God is a JEALOUS God; everything that He does and permits somehow will redound to his own eternal GLORY. This is a truth which cannot be denied.

DEFINE God’s love! That is impossible, but suffice it to say that God is the AUTHOR of this love.

The second thing that I want you to notice tonight: the OBJECTS of His LOVE—NOT angels.

You know, sometimes mothers will take their child into their arms and hug that child to their bosoms saying, "You are a little angel." But .they are NOT. I won’t tell you what they ARE, hut they are NOT angels. Then again, they promise their child if he will be good, thus and so, that he will some day be an angel, flitting here and yon. Now that isn’t SO.

And then there are those who say, "I would to God I had been an angel." Well, I’ll tell you one thing: I am glad that I’m NOT an angel; they have to stand on their own MERITS. He stands or falls on his own merits: the very moment that an angel sins against God he is driven from the presence of God, bound with everlasting chains unto judgment at the last day. But the people who have been saved stand NOT on their own MERITS, but they stand on the MERITS of the BLOOD of CHRIST. There is a DIFFERENCE. Angels are NOT the objects of God’s love, but MANKIND. Jesus said, "For God so loved the world. . ."

Now, I am not so foolish as to assume that God loved ALL of Adam’s race without exception. No, I don’t BELIEVE that! I don’t believe that men who die and go to Hell were the objects of God’s LOVE. For had they been the objects of God’s love and then died and gone to Hell, then His love did not AVAIL in their behalf, and it might not AVAIL on my behalf. God does not love BLINDLY.

Then let us see what KIND of love God has for the world: Jeremiah 31:3, God said, "I have loved thee with an EVERLASTING love, therefore, with LOVING KINDNESS have I drawn thee."

What did He say? "I have loved thee with a love that is everlasting, undying, a love that knows no bounds and no limits." And I’ll let you in on a little secret: He loved us who are saved NOT because WE loved Him. Here is the strangest thing of all. Now I don’t understand HOW God made the world, except that I accept what the Bible says. He SAID it and it was DONE. I don’t know anything about LIFE. In fact, I don’t know anything about this clock here, but I know it keeps time; I accept it as a matter of course. But the world, the planets, the stars, the moon and the sun are not nearly so astonishing, astounding as God’s LOVE for you and me. Now, I understand how that a person can love someone that is lovable—can’t you? I can understand how a person, you, me, anyone else can love somebody that is outstanding and a lovable person, but I can’t understand how that GOD could love a REPROBATE like you and me—that is the amazing thing.

"But," someone will say, "we love GOD in order for GOD to love US." Now, beloved, that isn’t SO. The CAUSE of our salvation is the LOVE of God. That is the cause—that’s the CAUSE. I want you to see that tonight. It is NOT the GROUND of our salvation, but it is the CAUSE. For love could not be consistent with its own nature if it tolerated sin and sanctioned sin. Thus, the ground of our salvation is CHRIST and His finished work. That can be easily seen.

In 1 John 4:10—I’m not going to give you all .the text because the last part has to do with another thought—the Apostle John said, "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that God hath loved us." And in verse 19 of the same chapter John said, "We love him (God), BECAUSE he FIRST loved us."

Well, then, does God love EVERYBODY? Did Jesus actually mean to imply that God loved ALL Adam’s race without exception? I answer by saying this: if He did then Hell will be empty. But then I know Hell will NOT be empty. WHOM did He love then? Hebrews 2:11, 12, 13 gives you the answer. In verse 11, Jesus is seen and heard saying that He is not ashamed to call those whom God had given Him brethren; verse 12, He points out that He would sing in the midst of the church praises unto God; and then, verse 13, He speaks of the children which God hath given unto Him. Now THEY are the ones whom God LOVES: the children which God gave unto Christ in the Covenant of Redemption. The objects of His LOVE? Not ANGELS, not ANIMALS, but MEN, all kinds of men: the ungodly, the unlovable, all kinds of men; not GOOD folk, because you can’t find anybody that is good.

Third: He said, "For God so loved the world that he GAVE his only begotten Son. . ." This is the MANIFESTATION of His LOVE. Do you see it? See how it unfolds.

I was noticing a word tonight after I came to church. I was back there in the office studying the word "commendeth." You know, I really appreciate that word in Romans 5:8, where the Apostle Paul said, "But God hath COMMENDED his love toward us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

The manifestation of God’s love was the DEATH of Christ for US. The word "commendeth" is not used many times in the New Testament—about 9 or 10 times. It comes from a little Greek word —sunistemi, and means to SET TOGETHER. All right, God’s love is SET TOGETHER. Every ingredient that is necessary to PRODUCE salvation of some men has been put together in the LOVE of God. The same word Paul uses, in reference to Phebe, in Romans 16:1, 2. God hath put His love together, and you and I were the OBJECTS of His love—those of us who have been saved. God manifested that love in Christ’s DEATH upon the cross.

Now in the 10th verse of I John 4 he said, "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that HE loved US, and sent his SON to be"—WHAT? "The PROPITIATION for our SINS." He died under our sins, and GOD was PROPITIATED that you and I might be RECONCILED to God by the DEATH of His Son, on the MERITS of CHRIST’S BLOOD. Jesus, in short, died in OUR place. It is that simple.

One of the greatest texts in all the fourteen Epistles that Paul wrote is in Galatians 2:20. I think that this is one of the greatest. It is familiar, almost as familiar as John 3:16. Paul said, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved ME, and gave himself for ME." It was a PERSONAL matter with Paul. He knew that HE was the OBJECT of God’s love, and that God manifested His love in the death of Christ for Paul.

Brother Lutts came out here one time several years ago and spoke to the young people of our church. Many of you will remember him. He, I believe, was about the worst cripple I have ever seen to be walking without a crutch. His limbs and feet were all twisted, and his whole body distorted. I haven’t ever seen anything quite like it, and yet, he could still walk.

That night he was talking to the young people about God’s love, and he said, "You know, I can’t understand it. I don’t understand how my wife could love me. We went to school together, and there were great, stalwart men who pursued her; a lot of them trying to marry her. But you know," he said, with great tears rolling down his face, "she loved me and I have asked her: ‘Honey, how in the world can you love me, I am so unlovable?’"

"And," said he, "you know, she looked at me with a smile and replied, ‘Why, you are not, Stanley Lutts! GOD loved you and God’s CHRIST died for you, and if He did that, don’t you think I could love you a little bit—enough to marry you?"’

Paul said, "Jesus died for ME. He loved ME and gave Himself for ME." It was a personal thing with Paul. If you can get lost men to see that, that salvation is in Christ and that Christ died for them—that is, for the individual who is lost, without God, without Christ. It would then become a personal thing—IF one is an OBJECT of His love.

Then, fourth, notice the RECIPIENTS of this love: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever BELIEVETH . . ." The RECIPIENTS, therefore, are those who have FAITH. In John 3:14, 15 Jesus said to Nicodemus, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever BELIEVETH in him should not perish but have everlasting life."

Jesus said that when Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness that everyone who LOOKED upon the serpent would be instantaneously HEALED of their snake bites, and there is no record where they were ever bitten again. Then Jesus said, "Even so in the same manner must the Son of God be lifted up, that whosoever BELIEVETH in him should not perish but have everlasting life."

The RECIPIENTS of God’s love are those who BELIEVE in God’s Christ. In John 6:47, Jesus said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that BELIEVETH on ME hath everlasting life." This is a wonderful text. It is short; it is brief, but it is a great text. Jesus said that the BELIEVER in Him HAS everlasting life.

"To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. —Acts 10:43.

Here is something that I wish those "works for salvation" fellows would read, but they don’t. They ought to, but they won’t. You know, some people can tell you how many chapters and verses there are in the Bible. I don’t know how many, for I have never taken the time to count them. I never thought it was that important, but, you know, some people know how many chapters and verses in the Bible yet they don’t know anything ELSE; they don’t know WHAT the chapters and verses teach. They work, but as the Bulletin said this morning, "It is better to DO NOTHING than to WORK at doing NOTHING."

Yet, some folk work their daylights out trying to learn the Books of the Bible—that’s all right—how many verses, chapters, this, thus and so, but they never come to "the acknowledging of the truth." So I wish someone would tell those "salvation by works" fellows about Acts 10:43.

I have been told—I don’t know, it might have been more, might have been less—that I don’t know, but I have been told there are 21 great prophets. I don’t know how many; I am not concerned. I’ll let the guy who is doing the counting count them and tell me. I am not interested. It could have been one. I am interested in the Author of the Book. But anyhow, the Apostle Peter said to the household of Cornelius, in Acts 10:43, "To him (that is Christ) give all the prophets witness" (everyone, whether there were 21, 51 or 101), everyone gave forth his testimony. They witnessed to one specific fact: the name of Christ, that "whosoever believeth in him should RECEIVE remission of sins." Simple, isn’t it? The RECIPIENTS are those who believe in Christ.

The Philippian jailer asked Paul and Silas at the midnight hour, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" (Acts 16:30). This is a great question. I am going to preach on that again; I love to preach on that. I see a new truth every time I preach on it. "What must I DO . . .?" Trembling, scared to death, frightened, he cried out in his anxiety: "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" And Paul said, "BELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt he saved" (Acts 16:31) I believe that. Do you? There it is—the RECIPIENTS, those who BELIEVE in CHRIST.

Then I come to the fifth and last thought: the SECURITY of such love. God doesn’t QUIT loving us; although someone said, "Why you might fall OUT of God’s love."

Yes? God just MAY fall out of the sky. You might just as well face up to this truth: it would be just as easy for God not to be God; for God to lose His soul, as it would be for God to CEASE to love. It would be against His nature. God isn’t an "Indian giver" (John 5:24).

A man said one time that John 5:24 isn’t in the Bible. Old Brother Nunnery was debating with this "works for salvation" fellow, and he quoted John 5:24. Do you know what this fellow said? He said over and over, "That isn’t in the Bible. I DENY I would have been in Hell a long time ago; you would have, too.

Brother Nunnery got up and walked over to him and said, "Will you read it? Here it is."

The man looked off and wouldn’t read it. Yet, people say that guys like this are saved, and religious denominations like that are all right! Why, they are the very sons of Hell! There is no use in denying the truth. A man who will deny the Word of God is a devil; you might just as well face that fact.

Old Brother Nunnery, tottering on his staff, with one foot in the grave, with tenderness and kindness said, "My friend, I never heard such a thing. Here it is, please, please read it. I want the congregation to hear you read. I know you can read because you have been reading."

The man said, "It is not THERE, Mr. Nunnery, it isn’t there. That verse is NOT in the Bible."

Had I been that man, instead of saying that, I would have run off. But it IS in the Bible, and here it is: "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, He that heareth my word, and BELIEVETH on him that sent me, hath everlasting LIFE, and shall NOT come into condemnation; but is passed FROM death unto LIFE."

There it is. That is what it says. The man who believes in Christ has passed the judgment of God: he will not be called to the White Throne Judgment; that day is PASSED; he has everlasting LIFE. That is why Romans 8:1 is TRUE: "There is therefore NOW no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. . ."

1 Peter 1:3, 4, 5: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time."

"KEPT by the POWER of God. . ." If it depended on ME, I would have been in Hell a long time ago; you would have, too.

Now this last Scripture: Paul said in Romans 8:33-39, "WHO shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is GOD that JUSTIFIETH. WHO is he that CONDEMNETH? It is CHRIST that DIED, yea rather, that is RISEN again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh INTERCESSION for US. WHO shall SEPARATE us from the LOVE of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in ALL these things we are more than CONQUERERS through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be ABLE to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Talking about God’s LOVE — NOTHING can separate us from it.

Now, do you think that this is a doctrinal text?

And the last word in closing: do you know Christ as your personal Saviour? If not, may the Holy Spirit be pleased to impart life to you, and you come to receive Christ as your Saviour. Amen.